From the Desktop: M Stands for MLVWM and Memories - page 2

Moving Forward

December 5, 2000

By
Brian Proffitt

The very first thing I did when I saw MLVWM was take a step back and say "what
the?" Despite my affinity for Apples, it has been a long time since I saw
a Mac interface on a computer I owned, so it took some getting used to.

The last time anything remotely similar had occurred was when I played around
with the StarOffice preferences and turned the whole thing into a Mac emulation.
That lasted all of three minutes.

MLVWM can easily be categorized as one of those window managers that pays homage
to the interfaces of the past. It acts just like a Macintosh interface, right
down to the Special menu command in the task menu.

MLVWM was created by Takashi Hasegawa, a programmer now working for Hitachi Cable
in Japan.

Hasegawa created the MLVWM interface (which stands for Macintosh-like virtual
window manager, of course) and released the code to the public back in 1998,
when he was still a student.

Superficially, the interface is a lot like a Mac, but configuring this interface
is not as simple as other window managers. After some time poking around trying
to find the configuration files or documentation that could lead me to these
files, I had to give up.

What comes out of the binary box, therefore, is a menu-driven system that changes
to reflect the menus native to a given application, just as Macs do. In lieu
of configuring the menus, I found it suitable to start a console and run everything
from there, but I felt rather silly doing this. I wondered how a novice would
cope with this interface when I, an intermediate-level techie, was having problems.

Hasegawa created this window manager purely out a desire to emulate the Mac
interface, he told me in an online interview.

MLVWM is actually based on "a very old version of FVWM," Hasegawa
revealed, and is written entirely in C.

This is a solo project for Hasegawa, too. He is the sole developer on the project,
though every once in a while someone will send him a patch that he'll include
in the body of the code.

Even though this is a solo project, Hasegawa maintains big plans for his window
manager. In the future, he hopes to add GNOME-compliancy to the list of MLVWM
features, as well as more APIs for additional applications to get written for
MLVWM.

If you love Macs, and I personally know you're out there, then you might like
to give MLVWM a spin around the block. Don't look for anything robust though;
its homage to the Mac interface still needs some work for now.